As soon as Oswald could get the muddy water out of his eyes he
opened them on a horrid scene.

Dicky was standing up to his shoulders in the inky waters; the raft
had righted itself, and was drifting gently away towards the front
of the house, where the bridge is, and Dora and Alice were rising
from the deep, with their hair all plastered over their faces--like
Venus in the Latin verses.

There was a great noise of splashing. And besides that a feminine
voice, looking out of the dairy window and screaming--

'Lord love the children!'

It was Mrs Pettigrew. She disappeared at once, and we were sorry
we were in such a situation that she would be able to get at
Albert's uncle before we could. Afterwards we were not so sorry.

Before a word could be spoken about our desperate position Dora
staggered a little in the water, and suddenly shrieked, 'Oh, my
foot! oh, it's a shark! I know it is--or a crocodile!'

The others on the bank could hear her shrieking, but they could not
see us properly; they did not know what was happening. Noel told
me afterwards he never could care for that paint-brush.

Of course we knew it could not be a shark, but I thought of pike,
which are large and very angry always, and I caught hold of Dora.
She screamed without stopping. I shoved her along to where there
was a ledge of brickwork, and shoved her up, till she could sit on